OFFICE SIMPLIFICATION PROGRAMME 01
Archive Reduction
Reduce what you store. Keep what matters.
Understand what records you hold, what needs to be retained and what can be securely destroyed or digitised.
Keep what matters. Remove what doesn't.
Paper archives accumulate over years. Filing cabinets fill, boxes move into storage and records continue to be retained long after anyone has questioned why they are still there.
Archive Reduction is about taking control — understanding what you have, keeping what genuinely needs to be retained and finding a better way to manage everything else.
The result can be lower costs, recovered space, less administration and easier access to information.
Why simplify your archive?
Why simplify your archive?
Why simplify your archive?
Most organisations didn't deliberately create a large archive. It grew gradually as today's working documents became yesterday's records.
But every document retained creates an ongoing management requirement.
Paper occupies office space or incurs storage charges. Records need to be indexed, retrieved, returned and eventually destroyed. Employees spend time finding and handling information. And when nobody is certain what should be retained, the easiest decision is often simply to keep everything. Archive Reduction challenges that cycle.
Paper costs more than storage!
The visible storage bill may only be part of the cost. Physical records can create expenditure through:
Storage — office space and off-site archive charges.
Retrieval — delivery, retrieval and scan-on-demand fees.
Administration — indexing, tracking and managing records.
People — employee time spent searching, filing and handling paper.
Space — filing cabinets, archive rooms and storage areas occupying productive workspace.
Destruction — secure disposal when records reach the end of their required life.
Reducing unnecessary paper can therefore deliver savings far beyond the cost of the archive box itself.
How much is your archive costing?
Use our Archive Cost Calculator to estimate your current annual archive costs and identify where savings may exist.
Four decisions to simplify your Archive
Archive Reduction is the first of our 10 Office Simplification Programmes™; a practical starting point for reducing cost, improving efficiency and creating a smarter office
